Spiceworks Community Digest: IT survival guide
It’s the spooky season but, honestly the scares and horrors of IT are year round. However, our community can help you prepare for the worst kind of haunting: workplace disasters. Inspired by the tactical life lessons from Zombieland, the Spiceworks Community shared their own survival guide for IT professionals navigating the modern workplace.
The golden rules of prevention
These rules are designed to stop problems before they start:
- Do-nothing Friday: “If you put something in production on Friday, you’ll pay for it sometime between 4:59pm on Friday and 7am Monday.” – Ode2joy
- Don’t be a hero: “The work will be there when you come in the next day!” – HulkSmash
- Don’t go IT alone:“Get a Partner for backup. If there’s no money in the budget for a partner, use AI.” – Aspectratio
Troubleshooting and diagnostics
When the IT tickets start pouring in, you need these rules to maintain control:
- Reboot: “When ever in doubt, power it out… and then power it back on but that last part isn’t as catchy.” – Just Ask Clippy
- It’s always DNS, even when it’s not: “Even if it is something else to start with, DNS will end up being part of the issue.” – UselessInfoMine
Professionalism and self-care
Survival is often about preparing yourself and your gear for the worst.
- Try and fix it correctly the first time: “This prevents follow-up tickets and the need to double tap.” – jameswalker20
- Bring your towel: “You never know when you’ll need to wipe up a spilled beverage on a keyboard, a leaking air conditioning unit, or a user’s tears when they haven’t backed anything up.” – John
- Nothing’s ever easy: “If it was easy, you’ve probably done something wrong.” – Chris Kelly
What essential rule did the community miss? Head over to the Spiceworks Community and share your wisdom to help fellow IT professionals survive the day-to-day adventures.
